Martha B. Jordan

Partner (retired), Latham & Watkins LLP
Board Member, Penn State Smeal College of Business Board of Visitors

Martha B. Jordan '76 is a Vice-Chair of the President’s Executive Council on Philanthropy for the current Penn State Campaign; and chaired the Advisory Council which planned the Campaign. She is also a former Chair of Smeal's Board of Visitors and a member of the President's Club and the Mount Nittany Society.  She has established several scholarships at Smeal, supports Penn State's Field Hockey program, gave to the Business Building, was named a Distinguished Alumni and Alumni Fellow and gave a Smeal Commencement Address. 

In 2011, Martha retired after practicing law for more than 25 years at Latham & Watkins LLP, one of the top global law firms.  Her practice focused on a broad range of real-estate project representation including both public and private companies, REITs in connection with IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, credit facilities and other portfolio financing deals.   She also held a variety of top management roles at Latham & Watkins, including six years as the managing partner of the Los Angeles office, where the firm was founded.

She was active in numerous LA charitable and civic organizations. Served for two years on the National Governing Body for USA Field Hockey.  She was named one of California's Top 100 most influential lawyers by California Law Business and one of Southern California's Top 50 Women Lawyers.  She was also named to the Law Dragon 500's list of leading US lawyers for three consecutive years immediately preceding her retirement. 

Martha earned a B.S. in marketing and statistics at Penn State, an M.B.A. at the University of Cincinnati, and a J.D. degree from the University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall).    She lives in LA, is married to Dave Lee and they have two daughters - Stacy and Kristen - both of whom were Student-Athletes at, and graduated from, Cal (Berkeley).  Stacy was a Haas School of Business major.